@Shion Uzuki: I wonder about that sometimes. No doubt it costs a lot to run a site as big as Gaia, but they certainly couldn't keep going if they've been losing money by the boatload (like was rumored last year).

Sure they probably don't get much from MCs, but they also are constantly churning out new cash shop items, some as high as $10 a pop. You're right that only a fraction of Gaians spend cash, but even still, that's probably a lot more coming in than just the MCs. The aquariums are also mostly cash-only, with most of the fish costing more than just a dollar. Considering fish have a limited life-span, there's another continual source of cash. However, my guess is that the major money-makers are the tons and tons of sponsorships they host.

I'm not saying Gaia doesn't need money, but I think some of the ways they've gone about it have been ill advised. Many users are unhappy and have been for quite a while, but there doesn't seem to be much of a response from the staff.

Even with how complex star collecting has gotten here, I'm glad it isn't as complex as gaia's event.

They are getting a lot of big-name sponsorships lately, so that should bring in a lot more money. But Gaia is no longer just a site being run by some friends. It's a corporation now. It's to be expected... even if it is annoying and bothersome to 80% of the userbase. Even though I do support the need for financial support and making money, I'm pretty annoyed with it since it's created a whole slew of other issues.

What I find really sad is that by getting lucky and spending $20+, you can earn enough to buy old items which some of us quested and worked our rears off for back when we could only buy MCs. A friend of mine bought a couple of cash cards and ended up with 13 mil. That's more than I've ever had on hand at one time. .__. The most for me is like 5 mil, and it immediately went to some 04 items I wanted.

It's a great idea to get more money. But at the same time, it upsets the core userbase that continues or at one time supported the site a great deal. But there's really not much you can do about that, since meddling with it would mean tampering with the marketplace. That's a no-no.

I'm not even sure if I really want any of the event items. -_- Maybe the pile of Gold since I wear gold a lot. But... they're not really as attractive as some previous event items. It's also a pain to play since everytime I attempt to attack someone, it says they're already in a battle with someone else or they're dead. *shrugs* It's not really worth the effort this time around.

@Shion Uzuki: That's very true. I've never had more than 500k really myself and most of the wealth I've acquired was because I happened to be around back in 2003/2004.

I agree with the quality of event items slipping, but I feel like the quality of items in general is slipping unless they're the higher-end cash items like RIGs or evolving items. Even some of the recent MCs seemed like an afterthought.

I will say that I really like the emotion bubble they just released. I'm glad they aren't a RIG or evolving item since that makes them possible to aford with regular gold. Sadly 90k is extremely cheap given how much $3 cash items tend to go for.

I agree with you Ferra. It seems all the best items are EIs or in RIGs nowadays, and extremely expensive/impossible to get.

Geez, I used to really fight against RIGs, along with a lot of other people, in the hopes that Gaia would at least tweak how the RIGs (and the chances of getting certain items from them) were made as well as not release them so often. I used to hope that the higher ups would at least try some alternate suggestions.

But now, I really don't care at all. I'm just so apathetic about it and I don't even log on anymore.

I just don't get it. How did it become *that* expensive to run the site? Has it always been that expensive? How did it become a project on which they are losing money, with all the stuff that they're selling? And how can anyone blame the users for this? Without its users, Gaia would be nothing. So I think they ought to listen to their users!

So, I just tried the camp event and have to say that I really hate it. The only useful thing is the free item in the beach chat. I hate the little battle system, it's much too time consuming. I'm not even going to waste my time.

Originally Posted by PhantomLolita

At least you can buy cash items in the marketplace with gold on Gaia. Neopets doesn't allow that.

Yeah thats something that bugs me on neopets >.>; [/offtopic]

I just use the "find opponent" button to find battles, but I have only been able to defeat bosses - not other players so far.

The event camp items aren't that interesting. The rich camp ones are OK, the rest are so - so.

I have alot of problems with gaia but this event just pushes me further away from going on. Right now I am waiting to hear about my accounts being hacked and this event was something I was looking forward to, but now its kinda dull. The items suck and then today they release a few neat items for our tanks. I love the sea angel but not spending 94k right now for it. I want that money for my avi not something that I can't sell back again when I am done using it.

Originally Posted by Angel Spirit Girl

I just use the "find opponent" button to find battles, but I have only been able to defeat bosses - not other players so far.

The event camp items aren't that interesting. The rich camp ones are OK, the rest are so - so.

I did the find opponent thing, but I just found the fight boring. The user just healed every time I hit her. Then she apparently went off to fight a boss, so I wasted my time. I just don't like it. ZOMG! is way more exciting.

I haven't gone onto Gaia yet to see the event, but from the sound of it it sounded a lot like the Halloween event from last year. Random battling against the different teams but everytime I try to attack someone they're nearly always already dead and unavailable -_-

That kind of thing happened to me as well.

They went off to fight a boss since that interrupts the player battles.

I love gaia i heard about menewsha from one of gaias ads also can someone help me out here?

What do you need help on, Hinata? If the questions you have aren't answered in the stickied threads in the Fresh Meat section, you can ask them in the Information Desk. :)

Gaia is much better.

I haven't even tried to enter into the Gaia event.
I joined the Science camp, but that's about as far as it got.

It's a lot easier to earn gold on gaia.

And uhmm... That's pretty much it. The avatars here are lovely,

and the community is great.

But gold-earning is a tad bit slow.

Well, the Gold earned here goes MUCH farther than the same amount earned on Gaia.
Gaia is way too inflated!

Yeah. MCs are like 40k when they come out now on Gaia. On Mene, they're only around 750-1000. That's like a 40:1 ratio. >.>

The gold system looks small here... but it is value that counts.

It is no use you earn 10k a day, and the MC cost you 40k.
But you earn 1k a day here and the MC cost you 1k.

You know? Value is the thing that counts.

All that said, it is very hard for a site to monitor the inflation rate.
Everybody always complains about the difficulty of earning gold, no matter what site they're on.

But if the site makes it easy to earn gold, then inflation runs rampant!

I love gaia. It's pretty much the first site I ever joined, back in 04. I am disappointed with the site but I still love it.

I'm an '07'er over on Gaia.
The whole site is becoming obsessed with money though, so in my opinion it's really killing all of the original fun that came with being apart of Gaia.

I've spent a good two years over there, now I'm really debating on leaving it entirely. :/

I'll probably never really leave...Just slow it down a lot.

zOMG is fun.